Spa Guide 2014

Forte Village

A jaunty, Club Med-type resort teeming with children making friends (and pasta) in the kids’ club, and parents reconnecting with their pre- child selves in the largely open-air spa, where you can sip herb and honey tea surrounded by banana, palm and lemon trees. There’s loads of water, the USP being six thalassic pools, created and overseen by a doctor and filled with restorative, magnesium-rich salt water. A dunk will leave you so zingy that you’ll be skipping around not giving a hoot about the protests of ‘Mum, you’re soooo embarrassing’. Physio massages take place in the water too; rumour has it that the footballer Ronaldo was so convinced by the pools’ healing powers that he had some water shipped back to steep himself in after a leg operation. The signature massage is for the liberal-minded: Indian, Thai and Swedish massage stretches you into positions that no strategically placed towel could possibly contend with. The result? Sod the towel. You’ll come out as twisty and malleable as pretzel dough.